Tuesday 30 April 2013

Nayu's News #68 4th Year Blogversary!

Nayu's Corner is 4 years old!!! 

I'm a little excited about it. 4 years! That's quite a while. You can see my very first post here. There's been a lot of change since I started. This is now my sole blog, which gets book reviews, lots of anime pics, anime reviews, and other random things.
Sometimes there is pudding/cake - which I felt I had to mention, because celebrating usually means cake is involved.
I don't necessarily post every day - I used to, but it was becoming a bit too much for me. I'm now more relaxed about posting - if I'm not up for it, it doesn't matter.
Taking life easy is the best way to be!
Naturally I review books (it is a book review blog).

I read all sorts - books that I absolutely can not read at night because they are scary
I can't sleep....
books which are cute and fluffy and make me go aww
like this picture which is my current background picture
Books which make me giggle a lot
Books which make me cry
I cry over happy parts and sad parts
 and all the other kinds of books that exist. Books are very magical.
You never know where a book will take you

My blogversary celebrations started a while back - there are currently two competitions running, just click the pictures on the side bar or click here to be taken to the competition post. There will be one more competition (or 2 - I'm not sure which I stated the other day) starting this weekend. I thought 4 competitions spread out over the month rather than one huge competition today would be more fun, and that way more people can win!
Heehee!

I would like to say a massive
to everyone who helps make my blog a success. Aside from me, I've got a few other contributors. Gina from the awesome book blog Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers is a wonderful friend who makes sure my meme posts look special every Monday.

Then I have my team of reviewers, who review for me when they can - thank you Gerry, Amy, Liana, Mina and Rie.
Just like the girls here from the anime AKB0048 this blog has many contributers
I'd like to say a big thank you to all the publishers, publicists and authors who provide books for me to review, get involved with guest posts and competitions, and who make being a book blogger extra fun.
Like the girls in the anime series Aria, I get to communicate with loads of people of different skills and talents - you're all fab!
The final thank you is to all my blog readers. I hope you enjoy reading the posts as much as I like creating them. Even if I had no one reading my blog I'd still blog because it's fun, but it makes such a difference when I hear that you've gone and bought a book I've reviewed, or you've gone to the library to reserve it. That's why I created this blog, to spread my love of books and share it with the world. 

Anime reviews are slowly increasing in frequency here on NRC - as you can tell from all the pictures, I love my anime as much as my books! It seems madness not to review them. I've made a few friends because of my anime posts, which has been truly awesome being able to squee about why I love certain anime so much - including Winx!
Stella and Bloom are having fun - friendship is central to Winx
Did you really think I'd write a blogversary post without mentioning my favourite show?
I couldn't resist!

Anyway, it's time for me to go relax with anime. Thank you again for all your support - it really does mean a lot to me. I hope you stick around for many years to come! Maybe NRC will be going in another 4 years - you never know, I might just be published by then!

Surprise!

I'm pretty sure you were expect my almost final picture to be either 
this is Holo from the anime Spice and Wolf - I discovered the anime after I posted up her picture, and it's awesome! She was my earlier Twitter avatar
or 
this cute one which I've been using a lot lately, and is my current Twitter avatar

Well, I found a funky new one, so will be using this quite often for a bit - here it is finishing off the post - for real this time! 

Thank you for everything!

Monday 29 April 2013

What are YOU reading? #164


What are you reading on Monday? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where you post books completed last week and plans for upcoming books. Jump over to her blog and see who else is participating.


Read


Chasing The Dark by Sam Hepburn
Young Adult
(DIY escaping, kidnap and secrets fill Joe's life with dangerous associations...)
9/10




Spell Sisters: Chloe the Storm Sister by Amber Castle
Children's, 7 years +
(An incredible showdown to a sweet, gripping Arthurian series for girls...)
10/10 E




Stick! by Andy Pritchett
Children's, Picture book
(I giggled an awful lot reading this, especially when puppy feels all alone because the illustrations say way more than the very few words do!)
10/10 E




Usborne Very First Words At Home
Children's, Non-fiction
(An adorable guide of everyday words...)
10/10




The Sleepwalkers by Viviane Schwarz
Children's, Graphic novel
(Not what I expected; pretty weird actually...)
7/10




We Have Lift-Off! by Sean Taylor and Hannah Shaw
Children's, Picture book
(The end was predictable but it is a hilarious read!)
9/10




Angel Wings: New Friends by Michelle Misra
Children's, 5 years +
(The young angels have floating beds!)
9/10




Dear Thing by Julie Cohen
Fiction
(The sensitive subject of surrogate mothers is brilliantly explored in this heartwarming story...)
10/10 E




Ellie May is Totally Happy to Share Her Space in the Spotlight by Marianne Levy
Children's, 7 years +
(Yet again I'm blown away by how large Ellie May's ego is...)
9/10




Maisie Hitchins: The Case of the Stolen Sixpence by Holly Webb
Children's, 7 years +
(A new series where the young girl, Maisie, starts learning how to be a sleuth with two personal mysteries that lead her to make many friends...)
10/10 E






Watched


AKB0048
REWATCH! - Anime, Japanese version
10/10 E
(Once again nearly at the end of this catchy show. Have watched it at least 4 times in a row now - will be watching other anime for a bit ^o^) 




Shugo Chara
REWATCH! - Anime, Japanese version
10/10 E
(I get so hyper watching this uplifting anime that I can't watch it before bed...)




Chihayafuru
Anime, Japanese version
9/10
(I'm learning all about a Japanese card came, karuta...) 




Lilpri
REWATCH! - Anime, Japanese version
10/10
(I'm smiling hard because in the next episode Dai [the squirrel/dormouse] eats too much so the girls try to get him healthy again...)




Winx Club: Season 3
REWATCH! - Anime, French version
10/10 E
(I'm at the sad part where Techna 'dies'...) 




Cardcaptor Sakura
Anime, French version
10/10
(Sakura's getting pretty confident wielding her clow cards now...)




Elemental Gelade
REWATCH! - Anime, English version
10/10 E
(*happy sigh* This is exactly what I want to watch right now - Ren is AMAZING!)




Heidi
Anime, French version
10/10 E
(My work colleagues are getting episode updates - I was so upset when Heidi was lied to by her aunt just so she could get Heidi to Frankfurt to see Clara [or 'Claire' as it is in French]!) 




Charlotte aux Fraises
REWATCH! - Anime, French version
10/10 E
(It was funny watching the girls create reasons why the couldn't dance with Pruntille [blueberry one] in the dance competition - she had set her ideals too high and learnt to stick with the ability of her dancers, not what she wanted them to be...) 




Angel's Friends
Anime, English version
9/10
(The plot is heating up with a major competition on the go - there are some Harry Potter similarities [ditto in Winx])




Aria the Animation
REWATCH! - Anime, Japanese version
10/10 E
(Once again I'm starting to watch this as my final anime before bed because it is restful...) 







Craft & other hobbies
Unfortunately I've been too tired this week to do very much - plus I had an evil headache spanning 2 days, so no progress in anything yet.





Sunday 28 April 2013

4th Blogoversary competition #2 & #3 ENDED


Hi all! As promised I'm posting up 2 international competitions this weekend. It's pretty incredible to think tomorrow this blog is officially 4 years old. 4 years of reading, reviewing, watching anime, having fun, chatting with other book addicts - it's been wonderful! 

Competition #2 Picture books



Often the wonders of reading are introduced when children are very young. Pictures say more than a thousand words. They convey the emotions of the characters in the story. They can make you laugh and cry - sometimes both at once! I wish to share the pleasure of reading with all readers in celebrating my 4th year blogoversary. So if you know a reader who would like to know what Rabbit's problem was in  The Rabbit's Tale by Lesley Sims & Fred Blunt and what bothered Lucy Ladybird by
Sharon King-Chai enter the competition below and they could be yours! 

The prize: 1 copy of The Rabbit Problem  and Lucy the Ladybird to 1 person anywhere in the world - sorry, inter-planetary post hasn't reached my country yet.

The rules: 1 entry per person, winners will be chosen by a random number generator, please make sure you read my protection policy.  

The deadline: 12pm GMT Sunday 12th May 2013

This competition has now ended

Competition #2 Children's 7 years + 
After a child learns to read it's really important that they find exciting books to keep their interest. I know two very exciting books (soon to be reviewed) which has one little girl, Maisie Hitchins, being able to do some detective work all by herself - with the help of some new and very good friends. Her adventures are in Maisie Hitchins: The Case of the Stolen Sixpence and Maisie Hitchins: The Case of the Vanishing Emerald Simply enter the competition below and they could be yours! 
The prize: 1 copy of both Maisie Hitchins: The Case of the Stolen Sixpence and Maisie Hitchins: The Case of the Vanishing Emerald to 1 person anywhere in the world (excludes outer space)

The rules: 1 entry per person, winners will be chosen by a random number generator, please make sure you read my protection policy.  

The deadline: 12pm GMT Sunday 12th May 2013

This competition is now closed. 
I'm sure Holo from the anime Spice and Wolf will want you to win!